Global Innovation Index 2025

• 24 Sep 2025

For Prelims: World Intellectual Property Organization, Global Innovation Index, Intellectual Property, Fund of Funds for Startups, National Semiconductor Mission, IndiaAI Mission, Atal Tinkering Labs.                               

For Mains: Performance of India in Global Innovation Index 2025, challenges associated with India’s innovation ecosystem and ways to address them.

Source: ET  

Why in News?

India has climbed to the 38th position among 139 economies in the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025, improving from 48th place in 2020.

Global Innovation Index

• The Global Innovation Index (GII), introduced in 2007, was developed to provide comprehensive metrics and methodologies for assessing the wide spectrum of innovations across economies. 
• Published annually by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the GII has become a key benchmark for evaluating an economy’s innovation ecosystem. 
• Recognized by the UN General Assembly as an authoritative reference for shaping Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) policies.

What are the Key Highlights of the GII 2025?

• India Related Findings: India rose from 81st (2015) to 38th (2025), ranking 1st among lower-middle-income economies and in Central & Southern Asia. 
  • Its strengths are Knowledge & Technology Outputs (22) and Market Sophistication (38); weaknesses lie in Business Sophistication (64), Infrastructure (61), and Institutions (58).
• Top-Ranked Economies: The top five most innovative economies are Switzerland (1st), Sweden (2nd), USA (3rd), South Korea (4th), and Singapore (5th). China ranked in the top 10 for the first time, securing the 10th position.
• Top Innovation Clusters: The world’s top innovation clusters are Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (1st) in China and Hong Kong, and Tokyo–Yokohama (2nd) in Japan.
• Positive Socioeconomic Impact: Labor productivity rose 2.5% in 2024, global life expectancy reached 73 years, and extreme poverty fell to 817 million, under half of 2004 levels.
• Rapid Technological Advancement: In 2024, technology advanced with notable gains in supercomputing efficiency and battery prices. However, adoption slowed, progress in wind power and genome sequencing lagged, and novel drug development regressed.

What is the Current Status of India’s Innovation Landscape?

• Funding Mechanism: As per the latest available R&D statistics, India invested 0.65% of GDP in R&D, compared to China (2.43%), Brazil (1.15%), and South Korea (2.5%).
• Patent Filings: India now ranks 6th globally in terms of patent applications. Meanwhile, India's patent-to-GDP ratio—a measure of the economic impact of patent activity—grew significantly, from 144 in 2013 to 381 in 2023.
• Strategic Policy Support: Programs like Startup India, Make in India, and Production Linked Initiative (PLI) scheme offer foundational support. 
  • The Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) has a Rs 10,000 crore corpus, and the new one lakh crore Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) scheme seeks to boost private sector R&D.
  • The Startup India Hub links more than 1,140 incubators and accelerators. In 2023, the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme provided Rs 945 crore for seed funding.
• DeepTech Push: Significant investments focus on strategic sectors, with the National Semiconductor Mission backed by Rs 76,000 crore, alongside the IndiaAI Mission and PLI for quantum technologies to enhance self-reliance.
• Rise of Unicorns & Cleantech: India has over 100 unicorns, the 3rd-largest ecosystem globally. The private sector leads in Cleantech, with startups like Ather Energy and Ola Electric.
• Geographical Diversification: Initiatives like Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) are decentralizing innovation, with over 45% of DPIIT-recognized startups emerging from tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

What are the Barriers to India’s Innovation Ecosystem?

• Inadequate Financial Investment: India’s gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) remains ~0.7% of GDP, far below leading innovative nations like the United States (3.5%), South Korea (4.9%), and Israel (5.6%), highlighting a critical funding gap.
• Dominance of Public Sector in R&D Funding: India’s innovation ecosystem is largely publicly funded, with the private sector contributing only 36.4% (2020–21), unlike advanced economies where industry leads R&D investment. 
  • Additionally, a disconnect between academic research and industry needs limits interdisciplinary collaboration and commercialization of research.
• Skewed Focus Towards Strategic Sectors: Historical R&D focus on defense and space technology (e.g., Agni missile systems, space missions) has led to under-investment in industrial R&D for emerging areas like semiconductors, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals.
• Risk-Averse Industrial Culture: Industries prefer importing proven technologies over high-risk, long-gestation indigenous R&D; startups focus on business model innovations in IT services and e-commerce rather than foundational deep-tech research.
• Bureaucratic Hurdles: Despite achievements by DRDO, ISRO, BARC laboratories, technology transfer to the market is impeded by procedural delays, intellectual property challenges, and lack of streamlined processes.

What Reforms are Needed to Strengthen India's Innovation Ecosystem?

• Boost R&D Investment: India should boost R&D spending over the next decade, increase private and philanthropic contributions, and fully deploy the Rs 1 lakh crore innovation fund (Union Budget 2025–26) within 3–5 years to accelerate deep-tech research.
• Promote University-Led Research: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can drive upstream research to expand knowledge frontiers and help industry commercialize mature technologies. 
• Establish Public-Private Innovation Hubs: India should establish sector-specific innovation hubs in AI, semiconductors, and clean energy, linking government, academia, and industry, and providing shared resources like testing facilities, prototype labs, and venture funds.
• Facilitate Cross-Sector Collaboration: Sector-specific industry councils can guide policy, pinpoint funding gaps, and channel resources to critical innovation sectors. For instance, a CleanTech Council could prioritize solar, EVs, and energy efficiency.
• Regional Innovation Clusters: Regional innovation clusters in non-metro areas can leverage local government and private resources to foster entrepreneurship and innovation, supporting rural agri-tech and social enterprises with funding, mentorship, and infrastructure. 

Conclusion

India’s innovation ecosystem has advanced significantly, reaching 38th in GII 2025 and topping lower-middle-income economies. While strategic policies have driven this rise, challenges remain in R&D funding, industry-academia collaboration, and private sector investment. Sustaining growth will require increasing GERD, promoting deep-tech, and building synergistic ecosystems to evolve from a startup hub into a global innovation leader.

Drishti Mains Question:

Q. Critically evaluate the barriers in India’s innovation ecosystem and suggest reforms to enhance deep-tech research and commercialization.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ) 

Prelims

Q. Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding National Innovation Foundation-India (NIF)? (2015) 

1. NIF is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology under the Central Government.
2. NIF is an initiative to strengthen the highly advanced scientific research in India’s premier scientific institutions in collaboration with highly advanced foreign scientific institutions.Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only  

(b) 2 only 

(c) Both 1 and 2  

(d) Neither 1 nor 2 

 Ans: (a)

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Mains 

Q. Scientific research in Indian universities is declining, because a career in science is not as attractive as are business professions, engineering or administration, and the universities are becoming consumer-oriented. Critically comment. (2014)